Monday, December 10, 2012

On my way through my re-read of Harry Potter!! Just finished book 3 and loved it. Here is the goodreads description:

Harry Potter is lucky to reach the age of thirteen, since he has already survived the murderous attacks of the feared Dark Lord on more than one occasion. But his hopes for a quiet term concentrating on Quidditch are dashed when a maniacal mass-murderer escapes from Azkaban, pursued by the soul-sucking Dementors who guard the prison. It's assumed that Hogwarts is the safest place for Harry to be. But is it a coincidence that he can feel eyes watching him in the dark, and should he be taking Professor Trelawney's ghoulish predictions seriously?

Great book... I feel that the movie really covered this book well. This is one of the books where I wish I was reading it for the first time again and didn't know about Sirius or the Time Turner. I had forgotten how much Crookshanks was in this book. That cat plays a huge part. I can't believe this book came out in 1998!! I don't think there was much Potter craze yet.

One thing I like about this book is getting to know some of the Order. Snape... whom Sirius tried to kill, reveals to us why he hates James Potter and his friends. I can't believe they were going to send him straight to a werewolf. And sad that nothing was really done to punish them in school for it. So I would be mad to if I was Snape.

This book is when the books finally start getting long!! I wish the first two books were long. I often wonder if Rowling had been published sooner and not turned away so many times from publishers if the first two books would've been longer.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Continuing my re-read of the Harry Potter series. Here is the goodreads description:

The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.
And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girl's bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny.
But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone - or something - starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects... Harry Potter himself?

I am really loving re-reading these books. I think the last time was like 2005. Now that I am reading the second book I find myself not really looking back to the movie in my mind but creating things with my imagination.
A few things bothered me.. for one Hagrid opened the chamber of secrets 50 years ago right? And he was like 13? And now Harry is 12.. so Hagrid would be like 75 or something crazy (I am bad at math). Also the Mandrakes! I mean they seem like they have personalities and even have a party in the greenhouse and then they get chopped up and fed to the people and ghost who have been petrified! Seems morbid. haha! These are just some of the things that I noticed while reading.

I also feel a little bad for Lockhart while reading. I mean it seems like everyone kinda picks on him. Yes he deserves it but no one seemed even really concerned at the end of the story when he loses his memory. Everyone is like ... oh well. SAD! I love the deathday party for Nearly Headless Nick. So fun! I could just picture myself in the room with everyone.

I am at the hospital everyday with my dad and these books have been the best for this. Such comfort... Rowling's writing is spot on. The stories take me straight out of reality and into a new world. I just love it. On to the third book!!